Factors influencing the usage of websites: the case of a generic portal in The Netherlands

In this paper, we empirically investigate an extension of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to explain the individual acceptance and usage of websites. Conceptually, we examine perceived ease-of-use, usefulness, enjoyment, and their impact on attitude towards using, intention to use and actual use. The paper also introduces a new construct, “perceived visual attractiveness” of the website and demonstrates that it influences usefulness, enjoyment, and ease-of-use. For our empirical research we partnered with a Dutch generic portal site with over 300,000 subscribers at the time the research was conducted. The websurvey resulted in a sample size of 828 respondents. The results confirmed all of the 12 hypotheses formulated.